You are here

Sealed Criminal Documents

Requests for Rule 17 subpoenas and supplements to plea agreements are automatically sealed. If a party wants any other document to be sealed (including a notice of a court proceeding), he/she must file a motion to seal the document. The document will be temporarily placed under seal until this Court rules upon the motion to seal. Electronic access to sealed documents is limited to specific court users that have sealed access.

To file a sealed document that requires leave of court, you must have a motion to seal, a proposed order to seal, and the proposed sealed document. Procedures explaining how to file these documents are below.

A party filing a proposed sealed document must serve a paper copy of the document upon any other party who is entitled to receive it and should retain a copy for their own use.

Attorneys can file the required documents through CM/ECF. The docket entry will appear on the public docket. You can choose whether the motion to seal itself can be viewable to the public (unsealed) or not (sealed).

Once this Court grants the motion to seal, Clerk’s Office staff will modify the docket entry from “Proposed Sealed Document” to “Sealed Document.” When this modification is made, the document is deemed filed. An NEF will not be generated for the sealed document modification. The docket entry is viewable. However, the document itself will not be accessible.

1. File the Motion to Seal

When the screen to attach documents is displayed, attach your Motion to Seal as the main document, and add your proposed order as an attachment to your motion.

At the next screen, select whether the Motion to Seal should be filed under seal. By default, the text of the docket entry will appear on the public docket. You can choose if your motion to seal should be sealed or unsealed. Select either the Sealed or the Unsealed radio button.

If you select Sealed, your motion to seal will appear on the public docket as SEALED-Motion to Seal. Your motion and any attachments will be sealed.

If you select Unsealed, your motion to seal will appear on the public docket as “Motion to Seal”. Your motion and any attachments will not be sealed.